Hot Take Nick’s review published on Letterboxd:
“I AM VENGEANCE.”
Alright. First “event” movie of 2022 & since Spider-Man. The hype for this movie in my head going into it was off the charts, so much so I was worried I built it up too much & it wouldn’t meet the hype. But alas it did. I’m so grateful to have seen this on an imax screen too, it was such an incredible experience.
The performances were as fitting as advertised. Paul Dano was on another planet for this one. What a fricken maniac. & I mean that as a compliment. Pattinson was a lot better as Bruce/Batman as I was expecting (I was skeptical but he brought the perfect level of brooding to this iconic character). His chemistry with Zoe Kravitz was as palpable as advertised. Jeffrey Wright was a great Gordon. Wouldn’t have been opposed to more screentime for Serkis as Alfred or Farrell as Penguin but I understand you only get so much runtime. And Turturro, what a great casting choice. Unexpected to me but he was so good as Falcone, I wish he had more screentime too.
Giacchino’s score was phenomenal. The batsuit was sick. Not a big fan of this Batmobile, too subtle but that’s a nitpick. I want to dive into a couple commentaries I perceived from this but won’t risk spoilers. I didn’t have an issue with the Nolan action sequences like many do but the ones in this are as well done as advertised. And absolutely loved the design of Gotham in this. Also, why is it always raining in Gotham?
My nitpicks: there were a couple lulls in the middle that slightly took me out of it, Serkis was good but not one of my favorite Alfred casting choices, Pattinson looked way too pale for my taste as Bruce in a bunch of scenes (like twilight level pale, my friend thought the same thing too), and the rest I’ll exclude to avoid spoilers.
I tried my best to avoid any spoilers (a main reason I saw this as soon as I could), but I did see people saying this was more of a Fincher movie than a Nolan movie. And I can totally see that now. Both takes are outstanding though.
At the end of the day: This movie was dark. This movie was gritty. This was a f***ing Batman movie. Give me all the sequels for this iteration, I’ll be there for them.
Batman, Ranked (#4 right behind the Nolan trilogy! But the closest to that any other iteration has come in my book)
Seen in Theaters 2022 (Trailers ranked by excitement: Nope > Dr. Strange 2 > Fantastic Beasts 3 > DC League of Superpets > Morbius; they also showed a montage of upcoming DC movies which was fine).
2022 Releases, Ranked (New #1!!!! But still 9 months left so can’t wait to see what may or may not too this)
Watched in 2022, Ranked (Also put this #1 but that was a much tougher call)
